CAIRO — As America talks to Iran, Saudi Arabia is lashing out against it. The kingdom, Iran’s chief regional rival, is leading airstrikes against an Iranian-backed faction in Yemen; backing a blitz in Idlib, Syria, by jihadists fighting the Iranian-backed Assad regime; and warning Washington not to allow the Iranian-backed militia to capture too much of Iraq during the fight to roll back the Islamic State, according to Arab diplomats familiar with the talks. Through Egypt, a major beneficiary of Saudi aid, the kingdom is backing plans for a combined Arab military force to combat Iranian influence around the region....

The US-led world powers and Iran Monday, March 30, entered the last tense hours for a nuclear deal as though Lausanne was on a different planet from the Middle East, where the Yemen war, in which Iran is deeply involved, abruptly scooped up a power outside the region, Pakistan. A high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Islamabad on Monday reaffirmed Pakistan’s “firm commitment to supporting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Saudi Arabia.” Among those attending were Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif, Advisor on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz and Defense Minister...

Two Saudi pilots ejected over the Red Sea on Friday after their fighter plane suffered a technical problem and were rescued with US assistance, state media said. "A plane of the F-15S type was stricken by a technical fault yesterday evening over the Red Sea and the two pilots were forced to use their rescue seats," state news agency SPA quoted a defense ministry official saying.

As reported first thing today, while the initial phase of the military campaign against Yemen has been taking place for the past 18 hours and been exclusively one of airborne assaults by forces of the "Decisive Storm" coalition, Saudi hinted at what is coming next following reports that it had built up a massive 150,000 troop deployment on the border with Yemen. And as expected, moments ago AP reported that Egyptian military and security officials told The Associated Press that the military intervention will go further, with a ground assault into Yemen by Egyptian, Saudi and other forces, planned once...

Iran demanded an immediate halt to Saudi-led military operations in Yemen on Thursday and said it would make all necessary efforts to control the crisis there, Iranian news agencies reported. Warplanes from Saudi Arabia and Arab allies on Thursday struck Iran-allied Houthi forces fighting to oust the country's Western-backed president. Saudi-owned al-Arabiya TV reported a ground offensive with troops from other Muslim states was being prepared.

Yemen's crisis is getting worse and then some. Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies have started bombing rebel positions inside Yemen. The Sunni Kingdom added that it would do "anything necessary" to deter the Iran-backed Shiite rebels who are taking over Yemen and trying to oust US-backed President Abd Rabbah Mansur Hadi. A Saudi source told Reuters that ground troops might be needed in Yemen to "restore order." Saudi Arabia is reportedly contributing as many as 150,000 troops and 100 warplanes to the campaign against the Houthis.

Pakistan examining Saudi request to join operation in Yemen: FO Dawn Report | Mateen Haider — Updated Mar 26, 2015 02:02pm ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said on Thursday it was examining Saudi Arabia's request to join the Gulf-led operation against Shia Houthi rebels in Yemen. Adviser to Prime Minister on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz confirmed that top Saudi officials had contacted the Pakistani leadership requesting it to join the Yemen operation. A decision has not yet been taken, Aziz said. He further said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has summoned a high-level meeting this evening to consult his close...

This is big news. Saudi Arabia and a Sunni coalition (UAE, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait) has now begun bombing Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen: AL ARABIYA – Warplanes of the Royal Saudi Air Force bombed the positions of Yemen’s Houthi militia and destroyed most of their air defenses, Al Arabiya News Channel reported early on Thursday. Arab Gulf states had announced that they have decided to “repel Houthi aggression” in neighboring Yemen, following a request from the country’s President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi. In their joint statement Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait said they “decided to repel Houthi militias, al-Qaeda...

Saudi Arabia is moving heavy military equipment including artillery to areas near its border with Yemen, U.S. officials said on Tuesday, raising the risk that the Middle East’s top oil power will be drawn into the worsening Yemeni conflict. The buildup follows a southward advance by Iranian-backed Houthi Shi'ite militants who took control of the capital Sanaa in September and seized the central city of Taiz at the weekend as they move closer to the new southern base of U.S.-supported President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

Saudi Arabia’s refusal late last year to rein in oil production helped trigger the price crash that has hurt oil-producing countries and publicly listed energy companies alike. And now even the kingdom’s own oil company is feeling the pain. As a result, state-owned Saudi Aramco is looking for ways to cut costs everywhere, from pushing contractors for better deals on oil-well services to negotiating discounts on its phone and power bills, according to people familiar with the matter. The company—the world’s largest oil producer—is also considering slashing its future spending on production and exploration by as much as 25%, much...

Itâ€™s hard to say who comes off worst in this story; Sultan Bamoallem, a Saudi student who kept trying to assault women (and possibly men) on campusâ€¦ or the university and cops who let him go to do it again. An ISU student is accused of entering multiple dorm rooms and inappropriately touching the occupants over a two-week period.Sultan Bamoallem, a freshman finance major from Saudi Arabia, faces multiple misdemeanor charges including trespassing, battery and stalking.Pocatello police said on Feb 23, Bamoallem entered a female studentâ€™s dorm in Turner Hall. Police said the student woke up to a partially-clad...

Saudi Arabia is investing heavily in its downstream business and developing captive markets to enter global oil market domination and counter the threat of U.S. tight oil. Saudi Arabia has been crafting the strategy for a few years, but it has come in sharp focus after the kingdom convinced other OPEC producers to maintain oil production at a meeting last November despite a collapse in crude prices. Oil prices have fallen 50% since June 2014, but Saudi officials have been unmoved as they see their strategy working. That suggests that the country has effectively handed over the role of swing...

U.S. officials said Sunday they will halt operations at the embassy and consulates in Saudi Arabia for the next couple of days, in response to “heightened security concerns.” Embassy officials in Riyadh issued the statement, saying telephone lines at the facilities will be down Sunday and Monday and encouraging U.S. citizens in Saudi Arabia to “be aware of their surroundings and take extra precautions when travelling throughout the country.” The message did not cite a specific security concern or threat nor call for the evacuation of the facilities. However, an intelligence source told Fox News that the threat is serious...

Riyadh: The US embassy in Saudi Arabia said it had suspended consular services in the kingdom for two days due to “heightened security concerns”, after warning of threats against Western oil workers. All services in Riyadh and at the consulates in Jeddah and Dhahran have been cancelled for Sunday and Monday, it said in a statement posted on its website Saturday. The embassy warned US citizens to take extra precautions and keep a low profile if they were out in public. “All US citizens are encouraged to be aware of their surroundings, and take extra precautions when travelling throughout the...

As U.S. and Iranian diplomats inched toward progress on Tehran’s nuclear program last week, Saudi Arabia quietly signed its own nuclear-cooperation agreement with South Korea. That agreement, along with recent comments from Saudi officials and royals, is raising concerns on Capitol Hill and among U.S. allies that a deal with Iran, rather than stanching the spread of nuclear technologies, risks fueling it. Saudi Arabia’s former intelligence chief, Prince Turki al-Faisal, a member of the royal family, has publicly warned in recent months that Riyadh will seek to match the nuclear capabilities Iran is allowed to maintain as part of any...

But the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation has accepted tens of millions of dollars in donations from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Algeria and Brunei — all of which the State Department has faulted over their records on sex discrimination and other human-rights issues.

Dr. Ahmad Al-Faraj of Saudi paper Al-Jazira criticized the Obama administration for its support of Islamist movements (such as the Muslim Brotherhood) during the “Arab Spring,” while praising Netanyahu for opposing the White House position on Iran. He wrote: Since Obama is the godfather of the prefabricated revolutions in the Arab world, and since he is the ally of political Islam, [which is] the caring mother of [all] the terrorist organizations, and since he is working to sign an agreement with Iran that will come at the expense of the U.S.’s longtime allies in the Gulf, I am very glad...

The victim of a violent gang rape has been sentenced by a Saudi Arabian court to 200 lashes and six months in jail for the crimes of speaking to the press and indecency. According to Sharia Law, a Saudi Arabian woman must be accompanied by a male guardian at all times in public, something the 19 year old victim did not obey when she went to meet a friend, according to website Live Buddhism. While in a car with a student friend, retrieving a picture, two men got into the vehicle and drove them to a secluded area. She said...

He has publicly declared that “the Jews” control America, that apostates can be killed, that the United States is the world’s “biggest terrorist” and that the Sept. 11 attacks were an “inside job” by President George W. Bush. But last weekend, Dr. Zakir Naik, a prominent Muslim televangelist from India, appeared at an elaborate ceremony at a luxury hotel in Saudi Arabia, where the new monarch, King Salman, gave him one of the country’s highest honors.

Saudi Arabia is prepared to let Israeli fighter jets use its airspace if it proves necessary to attack Iran’s nuclear program, an Israeli TV station reported Tuesday, highlighting growing ties in the shadow of Tehran’s nuclear drive. Riyadh’s only condition is that Israel make some kind of progress in peace talks with the Palestinians, Channel 2 reported Tuesday, citing an unnamed senior European source. “The Saudi authorities are completely coordinated with Israel on all matters related to Iran,” the European official in Brussels said. Jerusalem and Riyadh do not have diplomatic ties, but unconfirmed reports have swirled for years of...

A Saudi cleric is garnering headlines for declaring that the sun revolves around the Earth, a clear rejection of all scientific evidence. {snip} The controversial cleric, Sheikh Bandar al-Khaibari, was caught making the comments in a short video clip posted to YouTube on Monday. In response to a question posed by a student, al-Khaibari says the Earth is “stationary and does not move.” While al-Khaibari’s remarks have been mocked on social networking sites such as Twitter, regional experts say his anti-science stance is embraced and promoted by leading Saudi clerics in charge of the country’s religious authority. “It makes perfect...

Prince Charles is expected to intervene in the case of a jailed blogger sentenced to 1,000 lashes as he meets the new king of Saudi Arabia today. The heir to the throne landed this morning at King Khalid International Airport at the start of a two-day visit to the strict Islamic country where he was greeted by the Governor of Riyadh, HRH Prince Faisal bin Bandar. Later today Charles will meet Saudi Arabia's new ruler, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud at Al Eragh Palace in the capital, for talks follows by lunch.

NORFOLK Ayaan Hirsi Ali stood before a slide of the caged Jordanian pilot about to be set afire by Islamic State group extremists. That, she said at Chrysler Hall on Tuesday night, will be the norm if they are not defeated. "You are going to see people beheaded, their hands and legs cut off, the mass enslavement of women," warned Hirsi Ali, a sharp critic of Muslim leaders and radicals and an advocate of women's rights. "We have had over a long period of time... even before the Reagan administration, so many warning signs that we have ignored," Hirsi Ali...

While the markets are still debating whether the price of oil is more impacted by the excess pumping of crude here, or the lack of demand there, or if it is all just a mechanical squeeze by momentum-chasing HFT algos who also know to buy in the milliseconds before 2:30pm, we bring readers' attention back to what several months ago was debunked as a deep conspiracy theory. Back then we wrote about a certain visit by John Kerry to Saudi Arabia, on September 11 of all days, to negotiate a secret deal with the now late King Abdullah so as...

Sanaa - A Shiite militia on Sunday set a three-day deadline for political parties to resolve the power vacuum in Yemen since the president and prime minister offered to resign last month. The Huthis and their allies urged parties "to reach a solution and fill the vacuum" within three days or "the revolutionary leadership" would "take care of the situation of the state". ... The militia, which overran Sanaa in September, seized the presidential palace and key government buildings on January 20, plunging the country deeper into crisis and prompting President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi and his premier to tender their...

Barack Obama is travelling with a 27-strong delegation to cement ties with the new king of Saudi Arabia on Tuesday as concerns over Yemen and the Islamic State take centre stage in the increasingly volatile region. Central Intelligence Agency director John Brennan, Republican hawk senator John McCain and General Lloyd Austin, head of US Central Command forces in the region, are among the surprise additions to a hastily organised trip that has drawn critical comparisons with the US failure to send any senior figures to Paris following recent terrorist attacks. Secretary of state John Kerry and leading House Democrats Nancy...

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has established a research and essay competition in honor of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah Bin Abdul-Aziz hosted by the National Defense University. The king, who died Jan. 23 at age 90, oversaw the modernization of his country’s military during the time he spent as commander of the Saudi Arabian National Guard, a position he held from 1963 until he became king in 2005. Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey said the essay competition is a fitting tribute to the life and leadership of the Saudi Arabian monarch.

Saudi Arabia has charted a long-term course to drive down oil prices and maintain its major share of the global market—and a change of who is on the throne in Riyadh won’t likely alter this course, energy experts said. Even after the death of King Abdullah, announced early Friday, the kingdom is likely to continue to pump crude in the face of a global glut, which has helped push prices down by more than 55% since last June. Surrounded by unrest and uncertainty in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia is protecting itself by exploiting its big advantages—huge oil reserves and...

(CNN) —Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al Saud has died, according to an announcement on Saudi state TV. He was 90. The next king will be Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz, state television reported. The announcement of his death comes several weeks after the state-run Saudi Press Agency said Abdullah was suffering from pneumonia and had been admitted to the hospital....

DUBAI - A Saudi journalist and a member of the royal family denied rumors on Thursday that King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, in hospital since December suffering from pneumonia, had died, according to messages on social media. "All that is being reported about King Abdullah's death is far from the truth," Ibrahem al-Rawsa, identified as a journalist at state-run Saudi Press Agency, wrote on his Twitter account. A member of the royal family wrote: "I give you good news. The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques is fine and there is no truth to the rumors going around." He was referring...

Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, said Wednesday it deplored the continued “mocking of Islam” by French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. The kingdom is “surprised, and deplored” the publication last week of a new cartoon of the Muslim prophet Mohammed, the state Saudi Press Agency said, citing a source at the foreign ministry. “The kingdom does not find any justification for such deliberate abuse against Islam, which insults the feelings of 1.5 billion Muslims around the world,” the source said. Freedom of opinion and expression do not justify “insulting religious beliefs,” the source added.

House Panel to Ask for NSA Spying Probe A congressional panel will ask the National Security Agency's internal watchdog to investigate whether the super-secret spy agency eavesdropped without warrants on a Muslim scholar and later hid that evidence in a 2005 terror prosecution that got him a life sentence.The House Select Intelligence Oversight Panel and the judge overseeing the case want the NSA's inspector general to find out if the government failed to disclose evidence that might have cleared the name of a Northern Virginia spiritual leader Ali al-Timimi, Rep. Rush Holt (D- New Jersey) told theÂ New York Times.That...

The joke’s on them. Don’t the Saudis know that massive border fences do nothing to enhance domestic security and are, in fact, counterproductive? Well, I guess they’ll find out soon enough. According to reports, the Saudi Kingdom is fed up with defending against ISIS raiding parties that routinely cross over the Iraqi border. In order to stave off these assaults, the Saudis are going to build a massive, 600-mile long border fence across the length of the country’s border with Iraq. But that’s not all. The fence will be double layered with a concertina wire barrier in no man’s...

With the Islamic State terrorist group in control of large swathes of Iraq, Saudi Arabia has decided to build a “Great Wall” that spans 600 miles. Construction of the security apparatus began in September and will include five layers of fencing, watch towers and night-vision and radar cameras

Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi met U.S. Deputy Energy Secretary Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall on Tuesday in Riyadh where they discussed oil markets, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported. SPA gave no specific details about the meeting in a brief statement but said the officials looked into cooperation on energy and environmental issues, climate change, solar energy use and mutual investments. A U.S. energy department spokesman said in addition to those areas, the two officials discussed global oil markets. The trip was Sherwood-Randall's first as deputy energy secretary. "She chose to make her first visit to Saudi Arabia given our strategic...

Saudi Arabia has provided $60 million in direct support for the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) budget, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Egypt Ahmad Abdulaziz Qattan said Tuesday, according to the WAFA news agency. Qattan reportedly said that the Saudi Fund for Development had transferred $60 million to the PA Finance Ministry’s bank account. The Saudi diplomat noted in a press release that amount covers Saudi Arabia’s financial contribution to the PA’s budget for October, November and December 2014. The total PA budget for 2014 was estimated at $4.21 billion with a $1.25 billion deficit; when the $350 million deficit in development budget

I've been in the oil patch for close to 30 years. During that time, I have seen oil price go down to about $10 per barrel, and I have seen the price rise to over $100 per barrel. I have seen the price swing for no reason at all. I have heard different bogeymen being blamed for changes in the oil price. Supply and demand are certainly part of the oil price equation, but speculation has been a major price driver for at least the last couple of years, beyond the S&D factors. Right now, the Saudis are being blamed...

Saudi blogger and activist Raif Badawi, sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for insulting Islam, is set to receive the first set of 50 lashes tomorrow. Badawi will be flogged after Friday prayers tomorrow and continuously over a period of 20 weeks as the remainder of his sentence is carried out, according to Amnesty International.

the seizures came after clashes broke out Thursday night in the eastern city of Marib between tribesmen and army troops. They say the tribesmen suspected that the soldiers were heading to join the Shiite rebels who have been gathering outside of Marib for several weeks ... The Shiite rebels known as the Houthis are backed by ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh. They have overrun the capital and other cities in a power grab that has plunged Yemen into turmoil. ... Sunni al-Qaida has recently intensified its attacks against the expansionist Shiite Houthis, especially in Yemen's predominantly Sunni central region.

Saudi police have arrested a man wanted in connection with a 2011 protest movement organised by Shiite residents of the kingdom's restive Eastern Province ... Muntadher Ali Saleh al-Sabity .. is one of 23 Saudis wanted in connection with protests and violence in Eastern Province, home to more than two million Shiites in the Sunni-majority kingdom. The group, some of whom have been detained or killed, is accused of acting "on behalf of foreign parties" -- a reference to Iran, which authorities have blamed in the past for fomenting unrest among Saudi Shiites.

Saudi Arabia's national airline is allegedly planning to separate male and female passengers on its flights, in accordance to strict rules enforced by the Gulf kingdom. Gulf media report that Saudia will keep men and women segregated onboard, unless they are close relatives. The move follows a spate of complaints from male fliers unwilling to allow other males to sit next to their wives and other female family members.

The 93-year old King of Saudi Arabia was sent to hospital on Wednesday for “medical checks” according to the Royal Court. King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, who has ruled Saudi Arabia since the death of his half-brother King Fahd in 2005, was admitted to the King Abdulaziz Medical City in Riyadh, the latest in numerous trips to hospital by the aging monarch in recent years. The King underwent two operations in October 2011 and November 2012 due to "ligament slackening" in the upper back. The news of his entry to hospital prompted a 5 percent fall in Saudi Arabia’s main equities...

Authorities on the alert to ensure only men attend much-anticipated football match in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabian authorities have intensified security around a stadium in the Red Sea city of Jeddah to ensure no woman could sneak in to watch a football match. ... Saudi Arabia has a very strict policy regarding female attendance at sports matches. Permissions are needed to allow foreign women to watch the matches in which their home teams play.

Two Saudi women detained for nearly a month in defiance of a ban on females driving were referred on Thursday to a court established to try terrorism cases ... The Specialized Criminal Court, to which their cases were referred, was established in the capital Riyadh to try terrorism cases but has also tried and handed long prison sentences to a number of human rights workers, peaceful dissidents, activists and critics of the government. For example, this year it sentenced a revered Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a vocal critic of the government, to death for sedition and sentenced a prominent...

Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali Naimi sat down with MEES on 21 December in Abu Dhabi and gave his fullest explanation yet of Saudi thinking in pushing for an OPEC rollover on 27 November. Yesterday, excerpts of the interview were widely quoted in the mainstream press, moving the price of oil. Today, for the first time, the full interview is being published beyond the MEES subscriber base on Oilpro. Will Saudi Arabia Not Cut Production If The Russians Do Not Cut? First of all, why did we decide not to reduce production? I will tell you why. Is it reasonable...

Saudi Oil Minister Says Russia Doesn't 'Deserve Market Share' Jim Edwards Dec. 22, 2014, 12:10 PM Saudi Oil Minister Ali Naimi really got the world's attention in an interview he gave to the energy journal Middle East Economic Survey (MEES). We told you earlier that Naimi said the Saudis don't care how low the price of oil goes: "Whether it goes down to $20, $40, $50, $60, it is irrelevant." What's interesting though is Naimi's rationale for not caring. Basically, he told MEES, the Saudis can afford not to care about the low price of oil. /snip Everyone is asking...

Despite last week's bold proclamation, Saudi Arabia cannot keep producing crude oil and drive the price into oblivion if it wants to maintain its social services. Today, I talked with Regina Mayor, the advisor for the consultant practice at KPMG, who said she doesn't expect this price decline to continue. "The real break even for a lot of these countries is not what they're finding in extraction and transportation costs," Mayor said. "The real price for oil is what are the expectations of their populace in terms of commitments the government has made in terms of subsidies." The fear has...